By | Published On: June 7, 2011 |

Executives are attracted to positions within their businesses or large Corporates that by their nature are inherently stressful. Requiring a large amount of autonomy, often taking considerable financial risk, and working particularly long hours, they are not alone in their experience of stress, but they are atypical in terms of their desire to seek support when they become stressed. Part of the reason for this is because when things get tough they increase rather than decrease the intensity of the way they work, believing that trying harder will help achieve their goals better. This puts added strain on their bodies and pushes the adrenal fight or flight system to its limits. The result is a ‘wired and tired’ Exec who is anxious, uptight and spent as they live on Cortisol, the body’s secondary stress hormone, to cope.

Cortisol has some side effects as it is really our support mechanism when we are exposed to prolonged or chronic stress, so it tenses the muscles and you develop aches and pains even while its doing its job. It does not really make sense to tolerate this situation as the norm, but used to a level of stress in their roles every day, an Exec isn’t always able to recognise when that threshold or tolerance has been pushed to breaking point.

Symptoms of sleeplessness, stomach disorders, brain fog and inability to concentrate, now become chronic as the body and brain chemicals become out of balance, but it is only usually when someone else tells them their behaviour has changed or they look tired and unhappy, that they realise they need to seek help or support.

I regularly see someone who is therefore quite significantly stressed, but it’s better to come and see me than it is to avoid coming at all! My view is that Execs would seek a business advisor if their company needed something, so it stands to reason that a personal advisor is a good idea if they need something!

Some years ago when I first started supporting people by seeing them privately for 1:1 meetings, I found that the norm was for people to expect to be seen for an hour at a time and seen regularly over a lengthy period of time, approximately 6 months or so. Although this may make sound financial sense for the therapist, I’m not sure it’s the right tactic to take with Executives. In my experience, Execs are impatient as a rule; Type A personalities who think and act fast with most things they undertake, it did not make sense to offer a process that was fundamentally slow.

As Execs are also apt to tolerate a considerable level of stress before seeking support, it also felt a priority to help them fast rather than more slowly where their symptoms would simply get worse or at best, stabilise whilst they went through a lengthy procedure. I therefore started a new process where I complete an assessment of someone quickly in meeting one (or over the telephone); develop an action plan as a result of that meeting, meet a second time fairly quickly to check progress, and meet a third time some weeks later so as to follow up. This ‘quick fix’ approach has worked far better for my clientele often warranting a remark on their behalf that they’ve never got somewhere so fast before.

My only issue? One Executive said to me recently “you fix people so quickly I guess you have a struggle doing business” – that’s a good point as I may not see people for lengthy periods which might improve my cash flow, but I’d rather do it this way even so, as I honestly believe they thrive better if I can make a difference faster and see quick results!

For more info about me and my process including testimonials from people who have visited me for support please Contact me.